Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Great War 1918 ‘Western Front’ M.M. group of three awarded to Private R. Jameson, South Lancashire Regiment

Military Medal, G.V.R. (202478 Pte. R. Jameson. 1/4 S. Lan: R.); British War and Victory Medals (202478 Pte. R. Jameson. S. Lan. R.) good very fine (3) £300-400

M.M. London Gazette 7 October 1918.
The Recommendation, dated 16 May 1918, states: ‘For gallantry and devotion to duty near Mesplaux Farm between 9th and 14th April. On one occasion, when No. 1 Lewis gunner, he held up the enemy until the whole of his Company had got clear and reorganised, and then carried his gun out of action.’

Robert Jameson was born in Stockport, Cheshire, on 7 December 1889, and attested for the South Lancashire Regiment (Prince of Wales’ Volunteers) around April 1916. Posted to the 1st/4th Battalion, he joined the Battalion on the Western Front later that year. On 9 April 1918, when the Germans launched the second phase of their Spring Offensive, Jameson was with the Battalion in reserve billets at Locon, a village about 3 miles north of Bethune. On the morning of 9 April, Locon and the surrounding villages were subjected to a heavy German artillery barrage and in the afternoon Battalion Headquarters and ‘A’ and ‘D’ Companies, which included Jameson, were ordered forward a short distance to Mesplaux Farm, where for the next five days they were heavily shelled and engaged in frequent heavy fighting with the enemy. Over this five day period the Battalion Headquarters and the two Companies lost over half their men, with 13 Officers and 209 other ranks either killed, wounded, or missing, and for his gallantry and devotion to duty during this period Jameson was awarded the Military Medal.

Jameson returned to Cheshire after the War, and died in Stockport on 15 June 1978.

Sold with copied Medal Index and Gallantry Award Cards; Battalion War Diaries for the period 9-14 April 1918; and other research.